Paint Stripper

[Chalky]

Can anyone recommend a paint stripper that actually works? I'm trying to strip paint from a bike frame to repaint it. The last time I did this I used nitromors however it's been re-formulated to meet EU regs. The pre-change stripper would have the paint lifting in minutes, now after 1/2 hr it just leaves it shiny! I'd thought about having it blasted but it's thin tubing (Reynolds 531) and I don't want to damage it. It's a lugged and braised frame so there are lots of fiddly bits - I don't want to have to sand and scrape it all off. What do people use on their boats to strip paint?

[frangar]

Try some POR 15 paint stripper

 

 

http://www.frost.co.uk/por15-por-strip-paint-remover-us-gallon.html

 

I've used it with a good success rate.

 

Cheers

 

Gareth

[David Schweizer]

Can anyone recommend a paint stripper that actually works? I'm trying to strip paint from a bike frame to repaint it. The last time I did this I used nitromors however it's been re-formulated to meet EU regs. The pre-change stripper would have the paint lifting in minutes, now after 1/2 hr it just leaves it shiny! I'd thought about having it blasted but it's thin tubing (Reynolds 531) and I don't want to damage it. It's a lugged and braised frame so there are lots of fiddly bits - I don't want to have to sand and scrape it all off. What do people use on their boats to strip paint?

 

I had bike frame grit lasted years ago, and it did not suffer. That was also a brazed lug Reynolds 531 handbuilt Carlton frame with some very intracate Hetchings type lugs. The biggest problem I had was re painting them with all the decorative scrolls. etc

 

Alternatively I could let you have some very agressive paint stripper (I have two five litre tins of the stuff in my workshop), the only problem is working out how to get it to you If you are not in a hurry i could meet you when i next visit the boat which is moored at Napton, but I was therE only yestErday and probably won't get there again until after our daughter's wedding at the end of March. If you don't get any luck elsewhere let me know.

Edited February 23, 2014 by David Schweizer

[Neil2]

Have it grit blasted - I've had several frames done, one is a 653 and has been done twice. Take it to a specialist frame renovator though.

 

531 would be fine, in fact most steel can be blasted, it's aluminium you would have to do by hand.

 

I can't think off hand who there is in the Coventry area but Mercian can't be too far away, If you were prepared to send the frame by post I would use Ellis Briggs in Shipley.

[David Schweizer]

Have it grit blasted - I've had several frames done, one is a 653 and has been done twice. Take it to a specialist frame renovator though.

 

531 would be fine, in fact most steel can be blasted, it's aluminium you would have to do by hand.

 

I can't think off hand who there is in the Coventry area but Mercian can't be too far away, If you were prepared to send the frame by post I would use Ellis Briggs in Shipley.

 

In the "old days" you could find a small grit blasing unit in many of Birmingham's industrial areas. I just asked around and found one in Nechelles. It was done at lunchtime, and from recollection cost a couple of pints.. Those were the days.

[rjasmith]

The new rules for "dangerous" chemicals are indeed interesting.

 

A year or so ago I tried to get some Nitromors from a local paint shop and was suspicious when they offered me the new style tin. I looked at the labelling which showed the active ingredient as just Methanol.

 

I asked why it no longer contained Dichloromethane which seemed to be the only solvent that would attack some stubborn varnishes. I was told that it had become illegal to sell the old version of Nitromors!

 

I put the tin back on the counter and went home, logged on to eBay and searched for Nitromors. I bought a tin of the old version from another eBayer who happened to have one he no longer wanted!

 

Later I needed some more but couldn't find any more of the old stuff any via eBay. Instead I searched for Dichloromethane.

 

Bingo!

 

There was an eBay shop selling nearly any type of organic solvent known to man in almost 100% pure form, a litre at a time, delivery by courier and not particularly expensive.

 

I bought some but later I found it was cheaper to buy direct via their website. Here it is!

 

Be careful with it though, the EU is right, it is nasty stuff and perhaps it should be kept under some sort of regulation.

 

Quite how APC Pure are able to sell it so easily is not clear to me but lets not ask too many questions about that!

 

Richard

Edited February 24, 2014 by rjasmith

[David Schweizer]

I am always a bit suspicious when retailers tell me that a substance has been banned by the EU, under Health and Safety legislation because they are often only telling half the story. Sometimes it has nothing to do with the end user, but the safety measures which have to be put in place by the manufacturer in order to comply with health and safety at work legislation, and those manufactureres are unwilling to introduce them because they claim that the cost will outweigh the value of the product.

 

I am informed by my local Paint Stockist that this is this reason why many of the larger paint manufacturers are discontinuing spirit based paints, and replacing them with water based paints, but that small specialist manufacturers have been able to absorb the lower H&S measures for much smaller premises. Of course the cynic in me still wonders if increased profits from cheaper components are not also involed in the decision.

Edited February 24, 2014 by David Schweizer

[Neil2]

 

In the "old days" you could find a small grit blasing unit in many of Birmingham's industrial areas. I just asked around and found one in Nechelles. It was done at lunchtime, and from recollection cost a couple of pints.. Those were the days.

Don't get me started...

[Neil2]

I am always a bit suspicious when retailers tell me that a substance has been banned by the EU, under Health and Safety legislation because they are often only telling half the story. Sometimes it has nothing to do with the end user, but the safety measures which have to be put in place by the manufacturer in order to comply with health and safety at work lregislation, and those manufactureres are unwilling to introduce them because they claim that the cost will outweigh the value of the product.

 

I am informed by my local Paint Stockist that this is this reason why many of the larger paint manufacturers are discontinuing spirit based paints, and replacing them with water based paints, but that small specialist manufacturers have been able to absorb the lower H&S measures for much smaller premises. Of course the cynic in me still wonders if increased profits from cheaper components are not also involed in the decision.

I'm equally cynical, and the contractors will happily go along with this because these water based paints are easier to work with and because they don't afford the same protection as solvent paints they create more work for the trade.

 

All this stuff about microporosity and breathable coatings is baloney, in my opinion.